My son has been going there for a few months. I paid for 12 months of Black Belt Club and $70 for a uniform he has yet to receive. They have charged my credit card several times even after I changed the form of payment to my mothers card. She authorized the charges yet they continue to charge whatever card they see fit. I have asked many times to remove my card and they will not. This is theft! I removed my son this week after speakingwith the owner JIM and being treated like crap! He thinks he is too good to deal with parents. He is almost never there OFTEN SMELS LIKE ALCOHOL and wants to talk down to parents who pay $125 month for his income! I think not! I have 4 others parents wiling to make statements, will you?
Our children were members of All American Matrial Arts for nearly 5 years. The owner and Master Instructor Jim Niland, started this studio with the main goal of teaching Taekwondo to youth and adult students. During the first few years we had some issues with Mr Nilands erratic behavior, but we able to move past each of the situations after he would apologize for his actions and seem to be re dedicated to training our children in the manner he started. During years 3+ to 4 many changes and dishonest, misleading and manipulative behaviors came into play. One month after we signed a demanded 3 year contract for both of our children and pre paid in full, we received an email stating my youngest child's curriculum would no longer be that of Taekwondo (that she had been taught for 4 years) but that it would be changing to a freestyle Karate (come to find out it was made up Karate forms not even standard Karate).
After much concern and disagreement with this new change, we were promised that they would find the time to teach her the 2 missing Taekwondo forms along with the new required Karate forms prior to her testing for her Black Belt. At the point of the change taking place she was just 2 belts away from achieving her Black Belt. The change completely stopped her progression and in the last year and half we were there, never did they teach her the missing forms or even attempts to. Every time we would attempt to speak to Mr Niland about this issue he would laugh it off, make more false promises, send threatening emails from fake email accounts, or become extremely harsh with my child or myself. We tried to just hang in there as my older daughters test for Black Belt quickly approached. During the summer of year 4, our older daughter did successfully test and earn her Black Belt. As I said earlier, her curriculum and style of martial arts she learned from start to finish never changed. The change only affected our younger daughter. Things seemed on track and calmer for several months and we received an official test date for my younger daughter to finally test. Black Belt Readiness classes were offered for all upcoming students weekly. We attended and were told she had to take her test with 8 Taekwondo forms and 2 Karate forms because there would be no time to teach her the 2 missing forms. How does that even make sense? Why would you award someone a Black Belt if they are missing forms? Why would you award someone a Taekwondo Black Belt when it was mixed with Karate ? Many questioned and disagreed with alot of things that were happening. Mr Niland became increasingly irate and irrational. Still we tried to just keep things calm for my 9 year old. In our last few months of being members Mr Niland basically stopped instructing. He had his assistants do all instruction. When things seemed to his disliking he would storm out of the back room, start yelling and screaming at the children and make them feel completely scared. They did not understand why he was screaming at them. During the final Black Belt Readiness class ( he sent an email after this class stating he would no longer offer any more classes of this nature) I had another child whom was also a student in my care. She forgot a few moves in one of the forms and he started to scream at her as loud as possible. He said horrible degrading things to this 8 year old girl. Basically saying she is wasting her parents money and she will fail the test. She kept trying and kept being screamed at for nearly 45 minutes. I sent a text to her parents making them aware of what was going on. The class ended and no sooner did we get out the door that the little girl burst into hysterical tears. She shook and cried and kept asking why did he do that to her. I had no answers. I tried my best to reassure her that everything would be OK. She cried all the way to her house, hysterically. Her parents decided to immediately withdraw the little girl from the facility after she begged them to please not make her be around Mr Niland ever again. This class that the events took place happened on a Friday. The little girl was withdrawn on Monday. Tuesday I received an email saying that I could no longer be inside, near or around his studio at any time for any reason... but my children could still attend. Whattt???? His reasoning was scattered. Jumping from one subject to the next. Stating I am hurting his business and speaking badly of other students. Not even one portion of his accusations were true. After talking with our children's father we decided that with no question we could never allow our children to be around this man without a parent present. Nor did we want to continue to subject them to someone who continually acts in such an irrational and inappropriate manner. We sent an email stating a request for cancellation of our contract and a demand for the unused portion of our pre paid amount to be refunded. Also we asked for all pictures and likeness of our children to be removed from his social media, websites, flyers and facility. He responded with a letter drawn up by an attorney saying if we keep asking for a refund, he would counter us by demanding all discounts given over the 5 years to be refunded. ?!??!!??!! No where on my signed current contract or any others is there any discounts noted. We decided to seek legal help. With letters being sent on our behalf. This got us no where at all. Mr Niland refused to refund our money ($2600 in unused instruction pre paid). He refuses to take the pictures and likeness down. He refuses to act in a mature manner. We at this point are left with thousands of dollars basically stolen from us. We have had to relocate to a new facility and pay more money out of pocket. We are left with the realization that even if we sue him in the courts and get a judgment, he most likely still will refuse to refund our money. Per the contract it has been noted he is in full breach in more than one area. His actions are fraudulent and completely dishonest. What we asked for was just what we were owed. We have dealt with constant changes and behavior that's unacceptable and yet we still tried to the best of our ability to be mature and calm. I strongly do not recommend All American Martial Arts to anyone, especially those looking for martial arts instruction for their young children. Mr Niland is a great salesman. He will draw you in with his use of words and then totally pull and bait and switch. I stand 150% behind my decision to notify the parents of the little girl he verbally abused of what happened and would wish that anyone witnessing behavior like this to a child or my child to do the same. I just want my $2600 back from this man who thinks rules and guidelines do not apply to him so that we can move on and try to recover from all of this.
ALL AMERICAN MARTIAL ARTS Reviews
My son has been going there for a few months. I paid for 12 months of Black Belt Club and $70 for a uniform he has yet to receive. They have charged my credit card several times even after I changed the form of payment to my mothers card. She authorized the charges yet they continue to charge whatever card they see fit. I have asked many times to remove my card and they will not. This is theft! I removed my son this week after speakingwith the owner JIM and being treated like crap! He thinks he is too good to deal with parents. He is almost never there OFTEN SMELS LIKE ALCOHOL and wants to talk down to parents who pay $125 month for his income! I think not! I have 4 others parents wiling to make statements, will you?
Our children were members of All American Matrial Arts for nearly 5 years. The owner and Master Instructor Jim Niland, started this studio with the main goal of teaching Taekwondo to youth and adult students. During the first few years we had some issues with Mr Nilands erratic behavior, but we able to move past each of the situations after he would apologize for his actions and seem to be re dedicated to training our children in the manner he started. During years 3+ to 4 many changes and dishonest, misleading and manipulative behaviors came into play. One month after we signed a demanded 3 year contract for both of our children and pre paid in full, we received an email stating my youngest child's curriculum would no longer be that of Taekwondo (that she had been taught for 4 years) but that it would be changing to a freestyle Karate (come to find out it was made up Karate forms not even standard Karate).
After much concern and disagreement with this new change, we were promised that they would find the time to teach her the 2 missing Taekwondo forms along with the new required Karate forms prior to her testing for her Black Belt. At the point of the change taking place she was just 2 belts away from achieving her Black Belt. The change completely stopped her progression and in the last year and half we were there, never did they teach her the missing forms or even attempts to. Every time we would attempt to speak to Mr Niland about this issue he would laugh it off, make more false promises, send threatening emails from fake email accounts, or become extremely harsh with my child or myself. We tried to just hang in there as my older daughters test for Black Belt quickly approached. During the summer of year 4, our older daughter did successfully test and earn her Black Belt. As I said earlier, her curriculum and style of martial arts she learned from start to finish never changed. The change only affected our younger daughter. Things seemed on track and calmer for several months and we received an official test date for my younger daughter to finally test. Black Belt Readiness classes were offered for all upcoming students weekly. We attended and were told she had to take her test with 8 Taekwondo forms and 2 Karate forms because there would be no time to teach her the 2 missing forms. How does that even make sense? Why would you award someone a Black Belt if they are missing forms? Why would you award someone a Taekwondo Black Belt when it was mixed with Karate ? Many questioned and disagreed with alot of things that were happening. Mr Niland became increasingly irate and irrational. Still we tried to just keep things calm for my 9 year old. In our last few months of being members Mr Niland basically stopped instructing. He had his assistants do all instruction. When things seemed to his disliking he would storm out of the back room, start yelling and screaming at the children and make them feel completely scared. They did not understand why he was screaming at them. During the final Black Belt Readiness class ( he sent an email after this class stating he would no longer offer any more classes of this nature) I had another child whom was also a student in my care. She forgot a few moves in one of the forms and he started to scream at her as loud as possible. He said horrible degrading things to this 8 year old girl. Basically saying she is wasting her parents money and she will fail the test. She kept trying and kept being screamed at for nearly 45 minutes. I sent a text to her parents making them aware of what was going on. The class ended and no sooner did we get out the door that the little girl burst into hysterical tears. She shook and cried and kept asking why did he do that to her. I had no answers. I tried my best to reassure her that everything would be OK. She cried all the way to her house, hysterically. Her parents decided to immediately withdraw the little girl from the facility after she begged them to please not make her be around Mr Niland ever again. This class that the events took place happened on a Friday. The little girl was withdrawn on Monday. Tuesday I received an email saying that I could no longer be inside, near or around his studio at any time for any reason... but my children could still attend. Whattt???? His reasoning was scattered. Jumping from one subject to the next. Stating I am hurting his business and speaking badly of other students. Not even one portion of his accusations were true. After talking with our children's father we decided that with no question we could never allow our children to be around this man without a parent present. Nor did we want to continue to subject them to someone who continually acts in such an irrational and inappropriate manner. We sent an email stating a request for cancellation of our contract and a demand for the unused portion of our pre paid amount to be refunded. Also we asked for all pictures and likeness of our children to be removed from his social media, websites, flyers and facility. He responded with a letter drawn up by an attorney saying if we keep asking for a refund, he would counter us by demanding all discounts given over the 5 years to be refunded. ?!??!!??!! No where on my signed current contract or any others is there any discounts noted. We decided to seek legal help. With letters being sent on our behalf. This got us no where at all. Mr Niland refused to refund our money ($2600 in unused instruction pre paid). He refuses to take the pictures and likeness down. He refuses to act in a mature manner. We at this point are left with thousands of dollars basically stolen from us. We have had to relocate to a new facility and pay more money out of pocket. We are left with the realization that even if we sue him in the courts and get a judgment, he most likely still will refuse to refund our money. Per the contract it has been noted he is in full breach in more than one area. His actions are fraudulent and completely dishonest. What we asked for was just what we were owed. We have dealt with constant changes and behavior that's unacceptable and yet we still tried to the best of our ability to be mature and calm. I strongly do not recommend All American Martial Arts to anyone, especially those looking for martial arts instruction for their young children. Mr Niland is a great salesman. He will draw you in with his use of words and then totally pull and bait and switch. I stand 150% behind my decision to notify the parents of the little girl he verbally abused of what happened and would wish that anyone witnessing behavior like this to a child or my child to do the same. I just want my $2600 back from this man who thinks rules and guidelines do not apply to him so that we can move on and try to recover from all of this.